Subscribe to Email Updates

For certified physician assistant Paul Schaefer, the best mornings begin when the rest of the world is still asleep. After waking in the early hours of the morning, he heads to the woods. He isn’t hitting the hiking trails; he’s turkey hunting. And, he doesn’t think twice about having to get up so early to get there.

Paul Schaefer isn't just a talented PA. He's also an avid outdoorsman.

“I love being out in nature and watching the world wake up,” he says. “It gives you time to reflect on your thoughts.”

A South Carolina native, Schaefer grew up hunting and fishing with his father and brother in the Pee Dee region and later in Fort Mill, where the family moved when he was a teenager. “I went hunting a lot more when I was young, but now this thing called a job gets in the way,” Schaefer quips.

After earning his master’s degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Schaefer began working at Beaufort Memorial Primary Care in 2014. Prior to graduate school, he worked for two years in Charleston at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“I really enjoyed the coast,” Schaefer says. “When I finished school, my wife and I started looking for jobs in the Lowcountry.”

Their first pick was Beaufort. The couple, who met as students at Clemson University, attended a friend’s wedding in the seaport city and loved the community vibe. “I grew up in small towns,” he says. “I like the atmosphere of a small town.”

When his wife, Kate, landed a job as the South Coast Office Director of the Coastal Conservation League in Beaufort, the decision was made.

Now Schaefer is hunting and fishing on his new home turf. His preferred inshore prey: redfish.

“They’re very prevalent around here,” he says. “And they’re usually biting.”